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| Dynamic modification of multimedia content |
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| Networked appliance for recording, storing and serving digital images |
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| System and method for processing a request for information in a network |
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| Secure postage meter in an ATM application |
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| Systems for accessing the internet and geo-defined data and associated methods |
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| Method and apparatus for managing accounts payable |
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Multiple credit card system
| Details |
Inventors: Kashkashian, Jr., Arsen;
Assignee:
Primary Examiner: Pitts; Harold I.
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Eilberg; William H.
The present invention is a system which enables a user to carry one credit card instead of many. The information pertaining to each credit card account, such as the name of the account, the number of the account, and its expiration date, are encoded on the card, by magnetic means, with a semiconductor memory device, or using any other means of recording data. The owner's name is also encoded on the card, but the card does not bear any visually-perceptible indication of the name of the owner, or of the names of the credit card accounts represented on the card. The invention also includes a microprocessor-based system which accepts the card, determines whether the credit card account selected for use by the owner of the card is valid, and prints a credit card invoice. In an alternative embodiment, only the name and identification number of the owner are encoded on the card, the information for the various credit card accounts being stored in a remotely-located computer. The single card can thus be used in place of a large number of different credit cards. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION In one embodiment, the present invention comprises a card having information concerning the cardholder's credit card accounts encoded thereon.
The card is placed into a card reader which, under the control of a suitable console, and with the aid of a microprocessor, interprets the data on the card.
The apparatus is connected to a printer which creates a credit card invoice.
The card does not contain any visible indication of the identity of the cardholder, or of the names of the credit card issuers.
It is the responsibility of the merchant to ask the customer which credit card is to be used.
The merchant enters the information given orally by the customer, and the microprocessor compares this information with the data on the card.
If the information given does not match the stored data, the system is programmed to reject the transaction, and to emit a warning signal.
If the information does match, the microprocessor may interrogate a conventional credit card verification system, such as is described in the above-cited patents, to determine whether the card is still valid, whether credit limits are exceeded, etc.
If the credit card account is valid, the microprocessor directs the printing of a credit card invoice, and the transaction is completed.
In addition to having the customer give his or her name and possibly a personal identification number, the very fact that the customer knows what credit card accounts are represented on the card account, but that account is not found on the card, the customer is likely to have stolen the card.
The merchant can then respond accordingly.
In another embodiment, the credit card does not itself contain information as to the individual credit card accounts of the cardholder.
Instead, the card contains only identifying data pertaining to the cardholder.
The microprocessor is connected, through a modem, to a remotely-located computer which stores a list of the credit card accounts held by each customer.
The remote computer is thus interrogated by the merchant, through the console, and the computer accepts the transaction only if the credit card account named by the customer in fact exists for the card submitted
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Finance 
